El Gobierno inglés ratificó la semana pasada el tratado de Lisboa sin molestarse en consultar a la población, no fuera a opinar lo contrario.
Despite that rejection and Labour's promise to hold a referendum on the European Constitution that preceded it, Gordon Brown has pressed ahead with ratifying the Lisbon Treaty.
If it takes force, the treaty will create a new EU president and foreign minister, and end scores of national vetoes.
El euro-escepticismo en el Reino Unido tiene sólido fundamento y es rampante entre los conservadores y los liberales. Como señala Ruth Lea en las páginas del Daily Telegraph:
Britain, as one of the world's great trading nations (third-biggest in current account terms), should ensure that its economy is as flexible and free as possible to rise to any challenge. Unfortunately for Britain, the EU promotes economic policies that tend to be inward-looking and protectionist.
Moreover, the costs of the single market's centrally driven regulations far outweigh the benefits. Such policies act as a dead weight on British business. EEC membership may have given Britain a lift in the 1970s; EU membership is now acting, and will continue to act, as a drag.
Ruth Lea propone el modelo suizo, que tiene lo mejor de los dos mundos: está integrado en el mercado común europeo pero no cede su soberanía a los burócratas de Bruselas.
Switzerland's relationship with the EU is based on free trade and bilateral agreements, covering issues such as freedom of movement, civil aviation, and cooperation in justice, police, asylum and immigration. Despite not being an EU member, the Swiss economy is highly integrated with the EU.
